Letter to the editor: Gay, but still my friend

Friday, January 31, 2014 - 12:01 am

My sophomore year of high school in 2010, I was hit with a shock. My good friend came out as bisexual.

I was raised Missouri Synod Lutheran and had always regarded gay and bisexual people differently than I regarded straight people. I had never gotten especially close with “out” people either. When my friend broke the news, it was such a strange experience for me because he was no different a friend than he had been before.

He was still the same intelligent, funny, creative friend I had made my freshman year. I saw all his friends congratulating him on being who he really is, and I realized that I wanted to be there for him in the same way that they were there for him. I didn’t want him to be treated differently by anyone, especially myself.

I want him to have the same chance at happiness as I have. If he can’t have that, he may leave the state. Indiana would lose a very brilliant mind, and I would lose him. A friend is a friend. And my friend deserves the freedoms HJR 3 would deny him and countless other Hoosiers.